World Drug Report Reveals The Staggering Extent Of North America's Meth Problem

In 2007 about $207 million
was found in the home of a suspected cartel supplier of
meth-precursor chemicals. The pile, which weighed more than 4,500
pounds, is considered the largest drug cash seizure in
history.U.S.
Justice Department

North America clearly has a very big meth problem on its hands,
according to the
2013 World Drug Report by the United Nations Office of Drugs
and Crime (UNODC).

From 2010 to 2011 worldwide seizures of methamphetamine by
authorities grew by 73% — from 51 tons to 88 tons — and 61% (54
tons) of all seizures were reported by Mexico and the U.S.

The highest methamphetamine seizures were reported by Mexico,
where seizures more than doubled, from 13 tons to 31 tons [i.e.
the most in the world], and surpassed for the first time those of
the United States which seized 23 tons in 2011, up from 15 tons
in 2010. ...

Most methamphetamine laboratories continue to be reported
by the United States, where their numbers quadrupled from 2,754
in 2010 to 11,116 in 2011.

From 2007 to 2011, the purity of available meth in the
U.S. skyrocketed while the price tumbled from $290 per
pure gram to less than $90 — a combination that hooks people on
the fast, intense, and long-lasting high.

In October the DEA estimated that cartel meth — which is
90% pure — makes up for as much as 80% of the meth sold in
the U.S.

In December
2011 officials seized 252 tons of
precursor
chemicals
for manufacturing methat one of the Pacific
ports used by cartels to supply their superlabs (where they make
industrial volumes of meth).

In court documents,
a high-ranking member of Sinaloa currently in U.S. custody
asserted that Guzmán is a U.S. informant, Sinaloa
was "given carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit
drugs into Chicago," and
Operation Fast and Furious was part of an agreement to
finance and arm the cartel in exchange for information used to
take down its rivals.

Meth seizures have increased in the rest of the world as well as
seizures rose from 21 tons to 32 tons in Asia and 1200 lbs to 2
tons in Europe.

The authors notes that in 2011 East and South-East Asia also
continued to make up a significant share of the global meth
market, with the highest seizures reported from China (14 tons),
Indonesia (1 ton), Malaysia (1 ton) and Thailand (10 tons).